Paper cup opener



June 16, 1942. E. CLEMENT PAPER CUP OPENER Filed Feb. 6, 1941 In uerz tar A Home Patented June 16, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,286,465 PAPER our OPENER Erlin Clement, Pedro Miguel, 0. Z.

Application February 6, 1941, Serial No. 377,735

1 Claim.

This invention relates to means for facilitating opening a paper cup which normally lies in a closed position, the general object of the invention being to provide tabs on the faces of the cup so that by pulling upon such tabs the cup will be opened so that water or the like can be readily placed in the same, thus avoiding soiling of the cup at the mouth thereof by the fingers in an attempt to open the cup.

This invention also consists in certain other features of construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts to be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and specifically pointed out in the appended claim.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawing wherein like characters denote like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a front view of the cup made in accordance with this invention.

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view showing the cup in open position and shown in dotted lines how the tabs are gripped by the fingers.

Figure 4 is a sectional view showing a modification.

In this drawing the letter A indicates a form of paper cup now on the market and which has its side edges pleated so that the front and rear faces of the cup will lie close together when the cup is closed as shown in Figure 2. As is well known it is a difficult matter to open this cup without soiling the mouth thereof by the fingers, etc., and it is the object of this invention to provide tabs B on the front and rear faces of the cup so that these tabs can be gripped between the fingers of the two hands, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 3 to permit the cup to be opened so that water or other liquid can be placed therein. As shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 the tabs are placed out of horizontal alignment with the tab on the front face above the tab on the rear face and each tab is formed of a strip of material folded laterally into two halves with one half fastened to the cup as shown at I and the other half 2 folded over the half I. This half 2 can be moved to the position shown in Figure 3 so that it can be gripped between the fingers so that the fingers of the two hands engaging the tabs can open the cup.

Instead of having the tab forming strip folding one half upon the other, the strip can remain straight as shown at B in Figure 4 with the upper half 2' free of the cup so that it can be bent at right angles to the dotted line position shown in Figure 4 so that this part can be gripped between the fingers to open the cup. The lower half I is fastened to the cup.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided simple means for forming hand grips on a paper cup so that the same can be readily opened without the fingers touching any part of the cup excepting the finger grips and the parts are so formed that the cup can be dispensed from well known types of dispensing machines, particularly when made in accordance with Figure 4.

It is thought from the foregoing description that the advantages and novel features of the invention will be readily apparent.

It is to be understood that changes may be made in the construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts provided that such changes fall within the scope of the appended claim.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

In a paper cup of the type having pleats in its side edges for permitting the front and rear faces to be placed close together, tabs on the outer faces of the front and rear parts of the cup, each tab having a free part to be bent to form a finger grip, each tab being formed of a longitudinally extending strip of material having one half connected with a wall of the cup and the other half free.

ERLIN CLEMENT. 

